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always better to shoot what the manufacturer recomends. the difference in bolts and arrows is, the bolt is a metal projectile used for piercing armor. it has no fletching, or broadhead, or nock.it is kind of hourglass shaped. you know what an arrow is, so you should contact the manufacturer of your bow before shooting lighter, shorter arrows. if you go under a stated amount of arrow weight it could equal a dryfire, which you do not want to experience.

"Bolts" as one name they were called in Medeival times, were only 8 to about 10" long. They had very heavy iron tips and normally two feathers. Most seemed to be shaped like a very stretched out bowling pin.

An "arrow" is what we shoot today in modern (19th thru 21st century)crossbows.
Be they 16", 18", 20" or 22" long. For the most part, they are fiberglass (old design), aluminum or carbon fiber tubes with pressed in inserts in each end for the tip and the nock.
The 16" was used mostly by Barnett with their early bows. I have a Horton Recon that came with 16" arrows.
But most of todays (including my Recon) use the 20" or 22" arrows.

Be VERY carefull if you shoot something short. It may in fact be too light and could act like a dry fire because there isn't enough load on the string from the heavier arrow.

I actually have done this and it works great. A risk at first I knew but I have never had a bad experience doing this. If you get a strip of tape, wrap it around the end of the bolt (not the arrowhead's side) then push the back part of the tape tube in through the arrow shaft, I find that doing this protects the string from the sharp edge of the cut arrow. Be sure that the arrows you are using are thick arrows, with the weight of the bolts that your crossbow would have come with. Just to be safe. As what copperhead said. Shooting manufactured bolts would be the best way to go.

The ones I've seen for sale are made from aluminum shafts that are 2219's. If a bare shaft is 32" long then you can cut a half doz. of em' in half and get a doz. at 16" shafts. You'd just have to add knocks, inserts and vanes to complete em'. Also, I guess you'd want to stay with whatever standard weight you're crossbow came with so you'd probably have to adjust the tip weight to get the proper overall weight for the arrow/bolt.